Tourism

Minister Bishop was speaking about why Australia should invest more in PNG.

“I was particularly pleased to hear the Prime Minister talk about tourism because this is an area where we can partner much more closely with PNG.

Member countries are represented by their national tourism offices and these include Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, New Caledonia Tourism, Samoa Tourism Authority, Vanuatu Tourism and the Solomon Island Visitors Bureau.  Private sector participants are Turama Pacific, Air Caledonie International and Noumea Discovery Travel Company

In a statement, the Oxford Business Group said in mid-September, the government announced that Chinese tour groups travelling on trips sanctioned by PNG’s Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) will be able to obtain visas on arrival, rather than having to apply months in advance, as had been the practice.

The MOU was signed between Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister and Kokopo MP, Emil Tammur, Provincial and National Government, and Asia Pacific Tourism Organisation (APTO).

The signing is geared to ensure Kokopo lives up to its name as the tourism hub of the country.

Minister Tammur said the signing now paves the way for work to begin so that the district and province can be ready to take in huge numbers of tourists.

Fiji continues to be the top destination in the region.

Arrivals to the organisation's member countries provisionally reached over 460,000 in the March quarter of 2018.

The latest quarterly review reports visitors to the Asia and Pacific region were up 8.2 percent from 7.3 percent in the December quarter.

The latest figures outperformed last March's quarter by about 6 percent.

CEO Chris Cocker said Fiji continues to be the top destination with 36.7 percent of visitors followed by French Polynesia at 9.7 percent, Palau on 7.3 and PNG 7.2.

Governor Parkop said the visit by the Russian navy officers in their warship was historic, conveying his warm welcome to them.

During a dialogue hosted yesterday in Parliament, he commended them for showing interest in the city which is hosting the APEC Leaders’ Summit in November.

Mr Parkop said the visit was a testament of Moscow placing value in the Indo-Pacific region.

He added that the countries had a long history dating back to the settlement of Russian scientist and traveler Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay in the country from 1846 to 1888.

Minister Tammur said the nation was at a critical stage of its development and constant negative publications of news stories by the PNG media was unhelpful for progress and development.

Tammur called on media houses to focus on driving a positive news agenda to stimulate growth and investment for our country, not only in tourism but in all sectors of the economy.

He said with PNG already engaged in hosting APEC meetings, we should all be resonating what makes us a proud people in the Pacific and the wider global community.

The roadshow is held prior to the 2018 ITB Berlin tradeshow, the largest travel trade show in Europe.

‘Meet the Pacific’ is a one-day business-to-business meeting through pre-scheduled appointments in six European and two Asian countries bringing together resort partners, tourism board and airline partners (sellers) from the South Pacific to meet key European, UK and Asian tour operators (buyers) who are committed to promoting and selling the South Pacific destinations. 

Speaking at the Ready China Workshop on Wednesday, Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy to PNG Liu Linlin, said PNG can offer Chinese Tourists new experiences from the rest of the world.

However, this can only be achievable if PNG improves its security issue.

Counsellor Linlin informed tourism stakeholders today that millions of Chinese tourists have travelled various parts of the world and are continually looking for new experiences.

He said PNG offers that however several key areas need to be addressed. The most important being security.

The designation means that selected Chinese tour operators can organise group travel while having a control mechanism to guarantee safe and reliable tourism services for their Chinese customers.

The measure was announced by China's ambassador to France Zhai Jun during a visit to Noumea where he met the caretaker vice president Jean-Louis d'Anglebermes.

Several Pacific Islands countries have been added to the list in the past decade, including Papua New Guinea.

Photo: RNZ Pacific New Caledonia